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nocturnalbookworm's reviews
72 reviews
Written in Red by Anne Bishop
3.25
Just finished this one and I have to say I quite enjoyed it. It wasn't a masterpiece of fiction but it was very enjoyable and kept me engaged and it's been a while since I've really fallen into a book and thought about it so much so that has to count for something.
Written In Red follows Meg Corbyn who is what is called a blood prophet, basically when she is cut she sees prophecies after she escapes from where they keep people like her to hide in the mini-town of the courtyard. The area reserved for all the supernatural peeps living in that area (Lakeside). As the book goes on you meet (along with Meg) many of the non-human residents of the Courtyard and some humans of lakeside, as well as watch as things get really crazy because the people who Meg escaped from what her back. Like really bad. Like bad enough to do some really stupid shit.
My Thoughts:
~The World~
In this world from what I can tell it's supposed to be modern-day. Non-humans of various types from shapeshifters to powerful elementals and more have existed basically forever and when humans came around we tried to do our human thing and spread across the earth and act like we own and rule everything. Many fight back and forth ensued with the end result usually being the humans getting their buts kicked (or killed) in the end. As of the time of the book, there is an uneasy peace in most places. Big cities will have a Courtyard where the non-humans known as The Others reside. Lakeside, where the book takes place, is a bit odd in that humans are actually allowed in parts of it. Honestly, though this is mostly for observation and curiosity purposes on the part of The Others. I liked the world. I'm really interested in learning more about the different types of Others.
~Meg The Innocent Main Character~
I liked Meg, though I will say I hope there is more character development with her in future books. She had spent her whole life in a controlled medical environment and had little to no emotional connections/bonds or knowledge outside of what was deemed needed to properly deliver prophecies. So the way her character is makes sense to me. She is almost childlike in a way. It does seem like she is evolving a bit though from living in the outside world and interacting with others.
~Tess~
Tess intrigued me the whole book. She is a freaking badass in such a subtle I don't even have to say or do anything you can just feel that you don't want to be on my bad side. The whole book I was desperately trying to figure out just what she was. You do eventually find out and I wasn't disappointed.
~Simon aka Grumpypants Mcgee~
He read like a typical moody brooding romance novel male protagonist to me. I do feel like the animalistic side of him kinda makes that make sense though? I really kept expecting a bunch of romanc-y things to be going on but all the stuff that did happen was very subtle. I'm interested to see if romance does develop in the future.
~SAM The Adorable Puppy Boy~
All I have to say is SQUEEEEE SAM WAS SO CUTE AND ADORABLE AND HIS PART WAS HEARTBREAKING BUT SWEET AND I LOVED IT ALL
Overall I enjoyed this and plan to read the rest of the series. I really liked how the book ended with a conclusion to the big epic crazy clusterf*ck of kidnapping attempts and shenanigans but still left a lot of uneasiness, loose ends, and the like without feeling unsatisfying.
Written In Red follows Meg Corbyn who is what is called a blood prophet, basically when she is cut she sees prophecies after she escapes from where they keep people like her to hide in the mini-town of the courtyard. The area reserved for all the supernatural peeps living in that area (Lakeside). As the book goes on you meet (along with Meg) many of the non-human residents of the Courtyard and some humans of lakeside, as well as watch as things get really crazy because the people who Meg escaped from what her back. Like really bad. Like bad enough to do some really stupid shit.
My Thoughts:
~The World~
In this world from what I can tell it's supposed to be modern-day. Non-humans of various types from shapeshifters to powerful elementals and more have existed basically forever and when humans came around we tried to do our human thing and spread across the earth and act like we own and rule everything. Many fight back and forth ensued with the end result usually being the humans getting their buts kicked (or killed) in the end. As of the time of the book, there is an uneasy peace in most places. Big cities will have a Courtyard where the non-humans known as The Others reside. Lakeside, where the book takes place, is a bit odd in that humans are actually allowed in parts of it. Honestly, though this is mostly for observation and curiosity purposes on the part of The Others. I liked the world. I'm really interested in learning more about the different types of Others.
~Meg The Innocent Main Character~
I liked Meg, though I will say I hope there is more character development with her in future books. She had spent her whole life in a controlled medical environment and had little to no emotional connections/bonds or knowledge outside of what was deemed needed to properly deliver prophecies. So the way her character is makes sense to me. She is almost childlike in a way. It does seem like she is evolving a bit though from living in the outside world and interacting with others.
~Tess~
Tess intrigued me the whole book. She is a freaking badass in such a subtle I don't even have to say or do anything you can just feel that you don't want to be on my bad side. The whole book I was desperately trying to figure out just what she was. You do eventually find out and I wasn't disappointed.
~Simon aka Grumpypants Mcgee~
He read like a typical moody brooding romance novel male protagonist to me. I do feel like the animalistic side of him kinda makes that make sense though? I really kept expecting a bunch of romanc-y things to be going on but all the stuff that did happen was very subtle. I'm interested to see if romance does develop in the future.
~SAM The Adorable Puppy Boy~
All I have to say is SQUEEEEE SAM WAS SO CUTE AND ADORABLE AND HIS PART WAS HEARTBREAKING BUT SWEET AND I LOVED IT ALL
Overall I enjoyed this and plan to read the rest of the series. I really liked how the book ended with a conclusion to the big epic crazy clusterf*ck of kidnapping attempts and shenanigans but still left a lot of uneasiness, loose ends, and the like without feeling unsatisfying.
Disenchanted by Matt Wagner
3.75
Honestly, the first half to three quarters was a five-star with the last bits being more in the three range for me. Overall an enjoyable read for me, I'm really looking forward to reading the next volume.
Sphere by Michael Crichton
4.0
Very interesting read. As always love the balance of technical info and science talk with the narrative and tense story. Norman was an interesting character. I also really liked the way the various characters confusion and thought process was conveyed in the novel.
Beauties in the Deep by Zachary T. Owen
5.0
I was impressed with the amount of background info and detail on the characters as far as short stories go. One of my main issues with reading short stories is my desire to know more about the characters and setting. It's a personal problem I know, short story means less space for world-building and character backstory and development. I was happy to feel very familiar with Ivory and her family life by the time all the mystical bits and scary stuff came around. This one had a very dark fairytale feel for me but in a modern and realistic way. (Hopefully, that makes sense?)
Gator Bait by Adam Howe
tense
fast-paced
- Strong character development? No
3.0
Fun and interesting little story. There were definitely moments I saw coming and little surprises as well. Even the bits I could predict were interesting to read when they finally came to happen.